Social Theory Through Complaining

By

This course is an intensive introduction to some main themes in social theory. It is required of first-year Ph.D. students in the sociology department. Each week we will focus on something grad students complain about when they are forced to take theory. You are required to attend under protest, write a paper that’s a total waste of your time, and complain constantly. Passive-aggressive silence will not be sufficient for credit.

Course Schedule

1. Introduction: This Has Nothing to Do With My Research Interests

2. This is All Just Obfuscatory Bullshit and Empty Jargon

3. It’s Not Like We Can Even Predict Anything

4. Isn’t It More Complicated Than That?

5. Aren’t These Things Mutually Constitutive?

6. But What About Power?

7. We Could Easily Fix This Mess With Some Basic Math

8. This Field Is Sexist and Racist to Its Rotten Core

9. What is Theory Without Praxis?

10. THANKSGIVING BREAK. If You Can Call It a Break

11. Look, If Everything Is Socially Constructed, Then Nothing Is

12. Can You Believe We Didn’t Read Any __________?

13. Conclusion: This Whole Project Was an Exercise in Symbolic Violence